The Case That Changed It All
by AlaskaForever
Summary: Hey, it's Celeste here. A lot's happened since I became a member of Team Free Will, but I want to share with you all a turning point in my relationship with Castiel. The point where we stopped butting heads, the point where I could call him Uncle Cas, the point where I proved he could trust me... The point I want to share with you is: the case that changed it all.
1. Breakfast Banter

**Hey everyone it has been a while. Okay this is the third (technically fourth) in my OC's main series (Hunting Dog, What Lies Beneath and You're Special). The Case That Changed It All is set after What Lies Beneath.**

 **Please provide any criticisms, I would love to hear your thoughts. Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this. I will be continuing my SPN prompt challenge as well. I will endeavour to update as regularly as I can this idea has been floating around for a long time, but not had the chance to write it. So it may take time to plan the full story out properly. Once again I hope you enjoy x**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural (only my OC's)**

There are families dotted around the diner. The interior is neutral; coffee brown gives the place a rustic, homely feel. The red, circular metal rimmed tables 'encourage' families to be sociable. But I am probably reading too much into things, I always do.

Glass encases us all and I notice the families with young children are sitting directly next to the large, vertical windows. I smile imagining the parents warning them that any misbehaviour is going to be seen not only by the other customers but the world passing by as well. What could be more frightening than a thousand pair of judging eyes?

On the other side of the diner are families with teenagers, who are slumping in their chairs, arms crossed. I do not want to be stereotypical so I take comfort in the fact that others are listening with a smile to the gibberish stories of their bright-eyed siblings, whose arms wave as they deliver their adventurous tales. This environment is still new to me and whenever I see a family together it fills me with hope. I bet that sounds corny but it's the truth.

Then there is us. We are on the raised wooden platform in the farthest corner of the diner where the lights just about reach the edge of our table. I'm sitting nearest the stairs. Uncle Gabe is on my left, nobody is on my right, Dean is next to Uncle Gabe and Sam is on his right. Castiel is sitting opposite me, the wall behind his back, his blue eyes lock on mine.

'What do you need to do to get some food round here?' Dean grumbles.

'Heh, all you need to do is whistle and the waitresses will come Dean,' I say giggling.

I tense as Castiel opens his mouth to reprimand me, but Dean raises a hand making him stop,

'Ha ha you're hilarious and for that smartass comment you can take our orders.'

I huff as Dean smirks at me, he knows how I hate communicating in these types of situations. Out on a case I transform completely but here the thought of speaking to strangers makes me cringe.

'Fine, but don't blame me if I mess it up.'

A chorus of orders come flying my way as if we were a pack of wolves that hadn't had a successful kill in days.

'Slow down!' I raise my voice, mind spinning with different requests.

'Aww what's the matter kiddo, you're brain getting scrambled?' Uncle Gabe winks at me and I cannot stop the grin that forms on my lips.

'Very punny,' I say as I shyly lift my hand up to grab the attention of a waitress, 'Excuse me Miss we're ready to order,' I pause as she positions her notebook and black pen ready for the onslaught of information she is about receive, 'Um one stack of pancakes, um, the salad special, a stack of pancakes with syrup, butter, cream… probably all of the jams and… and bacon on the side. I think some uh, yeah just some toast. I think I'll go for the scrambled eggs, actually no, I'll go for a bacon bap, for you Americans that's a sandwich.'

The lady with long blonde hair and big… barely raises an eyebrow as she scribbles down my order. I breathe a sigh of relief.

'Can I get you anything else?' her voice rings out like a cheerful wedding bell and I wonder if it will one day fade if she keeps working here… She waits patiently as everyone stares at me.

 _Don't do it Celeste, don't do it._ But I simply can't help myself as I feign an epiphany, 'Oh, as a side, that man over there,' I point at Dean, his face drops, 'he'll take your number please.'

'Oh well. I'll be back with your order in a moment then,' the waitress murmurs, her cheeks colouring slightly.

'Thanks,' I call after her beaming.

Once she is out of earshot Dean says gruffly,

'Seriously?'

'Come on Dean, on a rating of one to ten I'd say she's a ten. Maybe eleven.'

I cover my mouth to prevent myself from bursting out laughing as I see Sam tactically taking a swig of sparkling water. Uncle Gabe is snickering to himself and trying to avoid eye contact with me. Dean continues to look at me with a stern expression, although I like to think on the inside he finds my insightful remarks amusing. However, my stomach twists as a gravelly tone from across the table questions,

'Why can't you ever be serious?'

'What? I am serious. I mean whenever we're out on a hunt I am… It was just a joke,' my tone is full of surprise.

'Come on brother. You can't expect everyone to be serious all of the time, I mean where's the fun in that,' Uncle Gabe tries to appease his younger (I'm assuming here) brother, who looks as if he could literally kill me right now.

'Exactly! Life's meant to be fun,' I add.

'No! Life is meant to be a test. So when we get the opportunity to be normal, I say we should take it. And not… and not have it ruined by you,' Castiel says sharply.

My heart pulses as if being squeezed by an invisible force. I cast my eyes downwards and mutter under my breath,

'It was just a joke.'

'Well no one found it funny did they.'

 _Screw heightened angel senses._

'Sam did,' I retort bitterly.

'Sam can be very childish sometimes. I'm sure Dean didn't find it funny.'

'Well, we'll see if we get any results won't we?'

Gabe and Sam snicker once more. _What is this guy's problem? Why can't he ever take a joke?_

'I don't need any help with my love life Celeste,' Dean points out.

'Have you got any dates lately Dean? I think you need all the help you can get,' Dean's frown deepens and I relent with a sigh, 'Okay I'm sorry I won't do it again.'

After breakfast which we ate in complete silence (how wonderful) we exited the diner and travelled back to the bunker.

'Alright everyone you know the drill. Let's see if we can find ourselves a case,' Dean announces as we all start reading through the newspapers.

A few hours pass and apart from a few potential cases that we quickly dispel as being ordinary (yet surreal) mishaps, such as 'Women savaged by pet' which turns out it was not a skin-walker but apparently her hamster has a lot of issues (people will do anything for publicity nowadays), I suddenly stumble across an article that leaps out from the page.

'Uh guys. I think I just found our case…' I state as I hold up the header for them all to read:

'Tragedy as Family Die in Huge Explosion'.

'So? It could be an electrical fault in the house. You hear it on the news all of the time,' Dean explains as he waves a dismissive hand at me.

'That's the thing. They haven't found any evidence to suggest what caused it and look at the picture Dean. That house has been obliterated, surely something really needed to pack a punch to cause this?' I grab his arm, my eyes pleading.

'It's the closest thing we have at the moment Dean,' Sam adds as he sends me a small smile.

'Fine, we'll check it out,' Dean relents and I resist rushing forward to give him a hug.

As everyone springs into action one thought enters my mind, _I hope we can prevent this from happening again…_


	2. The Light

**Hey everyone apologies it has been a while. Finally forced myself to sit down and write this (been having a fun internal debate of what writing to tackle) and it is always fun to use fanfic as a form of practice. Hopefully this sets things up nicely ;)**

The impala roars to a halt on the gravel. Smoke is wafting up into the sky like a warning sign. This could have been anyone's home. This could have happened in any neighbourhood. My stomach lurches as I exit the car.

In person the house is even more shocking than the photo in the newspaper. It is a heap of charred, splintered wood. Any potential possessions seem to have been wiped from existence. _What could have caused a blast like this?_

I feel a squeeze on my shoulder and look up to give my uncle Gabe a grateful smile.

'Alright we should split up and do some questioning,' Dean starts as I notice something odd about this scene, 'Hey Celeste are you listening?'

'Yes sorry.'

'Pay attention,' Castiel growls at me, I choose not to respond.

'Can I take the neighbour next to the victims' house? I've already thought of a lot of questions I want to ask but I want to handle this one on my own, if that's okay?' I ask Dean knowing he usually pairs me up with someone (thankfully never with Castiel).

'Sure thing. Okay Sam and Gabriel you head over to the other side and see what you can find out. Cas, you and me can go and speak to the other officers on the scene.'

'Wait, are we really going to allow her to speak to those people alone?' Castiel's voice matches his icy eyes.

'We can cover more ground that way,' Sam points out as Gabriel sends me a sympathetic look.

'Brother what are you afraid of?' Gabriel questions as I fold my arms.

'Nothing,' his voice is the definition of disdain, his eyes rest on me before he turns away.

 _Arsehole_.

Walking up the path to the house I knock and wait for someone to answer. Hanging on the blue door is a wooden heart that has written on it in bold letters: Family is Where The Heart Is; Love Begins At Home. The door opens to reveal a young couple, a man and a woman, the man holding a boy, who could be no older than two. He grins at me and giggles before hiding his head in the man's shoulder. Their faces are ashen and their eyes are stony.

'Sorry to disturb you both but I'm working for the FBI and I have a few questions to ask you about the incident if that's alright?'

'You're working for the FBI? So what they are letting teenagers work for the FBI now?' the man's tone is harsh as he hoists his son further up onto his hip.

'With all due respect sir I'm an apprentice. I believe if you are ambitious enough there are plenty of opportunities to make a career for yourself so you should aim high. If you require any ID I have my badge in my pocket or I could call over one of my colleagues for you?' I keep my tone pleasant.

'No that's okay, come in.' the man relents as he stands aside to let me in.

Once inside I seat myself at the round dining table and wait patiently as the man places his son in a playpen. The woman takes a seat and as soon as her husband sits down she grasps his hand.

'I can really appreciate that this whole situation must be very distressing for you both, but I want you to tell me what you can remember about last night. No detail is insignificant so if you saw anything strange or noticed anything out of the ordinary please let me know.'

'This is going to sound crazy and I mean really crazy,' the man leans forward, his tone anxious.

'Don't worry I've heard plenty of crazy things on the job before and believe me the crazier the statement the more helpful and truthful they are,' I reassure him.

'Okay I was cleaning up after dinner and my wife and my son were at the table playing with a puzzle. We didn't hear anything… I swear neither of us heard anything.'

'So you didn't hear the explosion? Did you feel any aftershock or…' I pause as the lady speaks for the first time her voice barely above a whisper.

'No nothing like my husband said. The first thing we heard were the sirens outside, it must have been about one or two in the morning. They were deafening so we went outside then…'

Tears begin to stream down her face and the man kisses her cheek. I pass over the tissue box that is on the middle of the table and she clutches one as if any second her whole world is going to disappear.

'I understand thank you for your time. Oh, before I go are you sure there wasn't anything you noticed about last night? Remember even the tiniest detail could be a great help.'

'Well as we were going upstairs to bed we saw a really bright light. But we thought it could have been a distant storm or maybe one of the streetlights had blown a fuse. Whatever it was it definitely was a strong, white light.'

'We were tired though. So our eyes could have been playing tricks on us as they were adjusting to the dark when we turned off the dining room light.' The wife adds.

'Thank you…' I pause realising I had completely forgotten to make introductions, if Dean and Sam find out they will not be pleased.

'I'm Stanley Finch and this is my wife Jenny Finch and our little boy is Austin.'

'Well thank you Mr and Mrs Finch, I promise no harm will come to your family, rest assured we are on the case and we are going to do everything in our power to keep everyone safe.'

I could see the burning questions in their eyes but they did not ask, which was good because otherwise I would have had to play the confidentiality card. I wave to Austin before I leave and head out to join the guys by the cordoned off house.

'Well that was interesting,' I begin.

'What did you find out Cel?' Dean asks me.

'Heh so get this. They didn't hear anything the only thing they noticed was a really bright, white light. The first thing they heard were the sirens in the morning, they came out to investigate and obviously they saw that.'

Everyone's eyes went to the house as I gestured to it, 'What the hell is this thing?' my tone harsh. For the first time on a case I had no inclination to what could have caused this.

'I have no ideas either, we pretty much got the same. No one noticed anything out of the ordinary apart from the light,' Sam adds.

'Mm,' Gabriel murmurs beside him.

'She probably used her powers to manipulate them,' Castiel states.

'What?' my voice steely.

'When you questioned them you probably used your powers to manipulate them into talking.'

'Uh, no, actually I used words to communicate with them. No tricks, nothing okay?' I retort.

'Cas take it easy,' Dean chides lightly.

'I don't like her being on this case.'

'You think I'm going to hinder it somehow? I'm trying to help, I care about these people we can't let this happen again. Why won't you just trust me?'

'Because your type cannot be trusted.'

'You don't know anything about my type!'

'Okay, okay! Look this isn't going to get us anywhere. We need to regroup and try and figure out where this thing is heading next. Come on Cas we got bupkis too,' Dean interjects.

'I think I'm starting to get a couple of ideas,' Uncle Gabe pipes up.

'Really Gabriel?' Dean's tone is full of surprise.

'If it is what I'm suspecting it is then it is really not good news…' Gabriel pauses as he places his hands in the pockets of his jacket looking at the house with sad eyes.

We all turn to head back to the impala but something catches my attention and I stop.

'Um guys… is that rubble moving over there?'


End file.
